SACRAMENTO — Less than an hour before the Nuggets’ regular season opener and it’s already feeling as energized as it was billed to be. Sacramento rolled out the ‘purple carpet’ for Shaquille O’Neal, part of the ownership group. Purple shirts adorn the seats of Sleep Train arena. On the backs of the t-shirts is the phrase 1985-Forever.

The Kings survived a huge challenge from an ownership group that would have moved the team to Seattle, and the fans – and city, at-large – has staged, what Nuggets coach Brian Shaw called “Super Bowl” celebration today in immense appreciation that their team is still in town.

In the midst of all of this, Shaw’s Nuggets have to find a way to match the Kings inevitable high energy, and thrive to have a chance to win his head coaching debut.

Almost daily it seems as if the Nuggets injury report grows, each time claiming someone new and significant.

Denver Nuggets’ Nate Robinson is eager to heal and get back on the court to put up shots like this. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Wilson Chandler, Nate Robinson, Kenneth Faried and Darrell Arthur are all dealing with ailments that have cost them chunks of time during training camp. All of these in addition to the always-present ACL injury to Danilo Gallinari.

Even more head-scratching is how many are hamstring injuries. Robinson, Chandler and Faried all have them, and Arthur is dealing with a strained left quad.

“I’m concerned,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “I’m sure part of it is we’ve had to stop-and-start. I’ve been doing a lot of teaching. So guys get warmed up, and they start going, and then we have to stop and make a teaching point or what have you, or introduce something new. Then they cool off, then get back on again. That’s always been a problem throughout time, trying to find a flow that once they get warm and get going they can just keep going.”

Two days before the Nuggets game against the L.A. Clippers on Saturday night coach Brian Shaw said he’d begin the process of coaching the remainder of the preseason games more like regular season contests. Well, he got more than that in Las Vegas against the coach Doc Rivers-led Clippers. Shaw got pretty much a full dry run in the Nuggets’ overtime loss. It was the closest thing to a regular season game the Nuggets may get this preseason.

The only drawback was the Nuggets were so injured they couldn’t get a look at Kenneth Faried and Wilson Chandler with the starters and Nate Robinson and Darrell Arthur with the second unit.

Nuggets coach Brian Shaw promises he doesn’t do the whole ‘small injuries turning into big injuries’ dance. He’ll keep a player out as long as he has to in order make sure the athlete is truly ready to return with as little chance (preferably, none) to be re-injured or for it to linger.

Wilson Chandler. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Exhibit A is Wilson Chandler.

The forward has been out for 10 days with a strained left hamstring. Chandler had hoped to return to full practice by now. He’s only participated in non-contact drills the last two days and remains day-to-day.

Shaw ruled him out of Monday’s preseason game against San Antonio, and likely Tuesday’s game at Oklahoma City as well.

“I’m being very conservative with him because I don’t want any hamstrings, calves, things of that nature that tend to linger if you let them completely heal. So I want him to get back to where he’s 100 percent before he can really get out there and start doing some stuff.”

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

Chandler said he injured the hamstring playing one-on-one, when he was bumped going up for a layup. Both Chandler and the Nuggets training staff are taking the cautious route in getting him back. If this were the regular season, Chandler says he could play immediately.

So there’s not much to worry about.

“If this were the regular season, right now I would be able to play,” Chandler said.

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

There was Ty Lawson’s near triple-double of 15 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. There were 32 fast break points. And then… There were 28 turnovers, and 33 personal fouls. So a little bit of everything, which led to a good-bad analysis out of the first year coach.

“Overall, we have a lot of work to do, but I was impressed with our intensity, especially on the defensive side,” Shaw said. “A probably few too many offensive rebounds…and definitely have to do a better job of taking care of the ball – 28 turnovers for 26 points is entirely too many. But that’s to be expected in a first preseason game where we are trying to put it all together. But I was happy with the effort and we’ll have a lot of things to work on after we watch the tape.”

Don’t read much into the starters. It’s game No. 1. Wilson Chandler is injured. Nuggets coach Brian Shaw has no clue as to what these players look like under the lights. If you’re into knowing/predicting starters, it will be something to hone in on more about the fourth preseason game – and provided the players truly vying for those spots are in good health.

Offense will be rough. Outside of some simple concepts and some actions toward the end of some plays that tie into what the Nuggets will run during the season, this is more about comprehension and execution of fundamental stuff. Look for spots of crisp play and players that don’t look lost. Outside of that, not much can be gleaned about the specific system the Nuggets will eventually run.

The original injury is the downside. The opportunity it provides can be a sliver lining.

Quincy Miller (Denver Post file)

Quincy Miller is the silver lining, getting added reps in the last days with the absence of Wilson Chandler, who has missed time with a hamstring strain. And according to Nuggets coach Brian Shaw, Miller needs every rep he can get.

“It can only help him, and he needs it,” Shaw said. “He’s learning on the job. It’s almost like the sink or swim mentality, he’s kind of getting thrown out there. If you haven’t been paying attention, if you haven’t been putting in your work, it will show. I think his effort has been good. There’s some obvious things that he still needs to work on in terms of playing the games. But I’m patient and I can live with the mistakes as long as he’s trying to do the right thing, and he’s trying to do the right thing.”

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

1. JaVale McGee’s increased weight. Even sitting down in a folding chair as he talked during Nuggets media day, Nuggets center JaVale McGee looked visibly like a bigger person. As in more muscular. In fact, he says he’s up to 265 pounds, bigger than last season, though he claims not to know exactly what his 2012-13 playing weight was.

According to the roster, McGee played at – or around – 250 pounds last season, so this would be an increase of 15 pounds. He’ll need that added bulk to better hold his own against big men around the league.

“I definitely feel strong and being able to take punishment from bigger bodies,” McGee said.

2. Ty Lawson’s improved jump shot? When it comes to adding something new to his offensive repertoire, Nuggets guard Ty Lawson knew exactly what he needed – a pull-up jump shot. And so in a summer of workouts, many of which were nighttime shooting sessions, Lawson did just that – put in significant work trying to improve that area of his game, among other aspects.

“From coming off ball screens shooting the ‘3,’ getting my legs up under me,” Lawson said. “And also defending, defending the pick-and-roll, getting over screens. Not relying on JaVale’s height or athleticism or Kenneth Faried to help me out. Trying to do more to control my man.”

So Ty Lawson, essentially the face of the Denver Nuggets, was arrested and charged with physical harassment and criminal mischief, as reported by our Ryan Parker.

But was this just two lovers in a heated argument, smashing each other’s phones and making enough noise that the cops were called? Was it something worthy of the playful tweet — “Young Ty trying to get that street cred up lol.” – from teammate Wilson Chandler?

Or is there a problem here? Did Ty do something worse than break a phone? And is the damage already done (no pun intended) due to the arrest, which possibly could lead to punishment from the team or league?

I mean, right away, you don’t want to see your best player in a mug shot, so the Nuggets already have a problem on their hands. But it’s hard to jump to conclusions right now because we don’t know the severity of it all, just yet.

Draymond Green (23) of the Golden State Warriors talks with head coach Mark Jackson of the Golden State Warriors during practice April 22, 2013 at Pepsi Center.

Sure, Nuggets coach George Karl could go the radical route and drastically change his starting lineup tonight for Game 3 of his team’s series against Golden State.

But should he?

The first question that has to be asked is: What were the actual problems? I’d say those were a lack of effort and little-to-no attention to detail on defense. The Nuggets were careless as a team in ways they really weren’t in Game 1. And Golden State tricked up the game, to be sure. Warriors coach Mark Jackson went so far as to make a last-second decision to start Jarrett Jack instead of Carl Landry, which pushed Harrison Barnes to the power forward spot — where he was matched up with Wilson Chandler.

The most important play of the Nuggets’ late-season playoff charge began with the shortest player on the court inbounding the ball.

With 14.2 seconds to go and down one at Milwaukee, a game the Nuggets had to have to lock up a top four spot in the Western Conference, Ty Lawson surveyed the court and lofted the ball to Wilson Chandler. Chandler handed the ball back off to Lawson who drove the lane, crossed over the defender, Monta Ellis, rose up and hit a shot that was arguably the most important jumper any Nugget has hit in the last three weeks.

On Thursday night after the Denver-Dallas game, a source close to the situation had told me that Danilo Gallinari heard a pop in his left knee, and that Gallo thinks it’s an ACL tear. Thus, Gallo’s season would be over.

This is terrible news for Gallo, one of the good guys, and for the Nuggets, third in the Western Conference.

Gallo is second on the team with 16.3 points per game, third with 5.2 rebounds. And he shoots 82 percent from the line, one of the few dependable players shooting foul shots.

The dynamic Denver reserve Wilson Chandler is doubtful for Thurs vs. the 76ers due to his shoulder separation, suffered in Tuesday’s win against the Thunder. Officially, it’s a left shoulder 1st-degree AC joint separation. X-rays were negative.

He is still considered day-to-day.

Point guard Ty Lawson has a heel bruise and was day-to-day after the Thunder game. An update could come this afternoon. The Nuggets did not practice on Wednesday, following back-to-back games, both wins on the road.

Asked about the team playing a back-to-back and its fourth game in five nights — all on the road — forward Kenneth Faried said: “Our guys have heart, but I’m a little nervous that some guys aren’t going to be able to play 100 percent or bring it. my advice would be to sit out, we need you in the long run.”

* Asked about last night’s loss, 109-108 at Toronto, center Kosta Koufos said, “There are no moral victories, it goes on two losses on our records. We are upset about it, we are hungry, and we want to win at Brooklyn.”

* The Nuggets are 11-17 on the road this season. … They’ve scored 100-plus points in 12-straight games. … They’ve scored 70 or more points in the paint four times this season, including last night at the Raptors. … Something to build on – Denver only committed one turnover in the fourth quarter of that game.

The Nuggets pulled off a crazy win Monday against the Pacers (after blowing a 14-point fourth-quarter lead), and did so without the services of JaVale and Ill Wil.

The forward Chandler (groin) practiced today and said he’ll play against the Rockets, while the center McGee (shin) is questionable. An MRI today confirmed there is no stress fracture in his left tibia.

Both players had huge nights against the Rockets last week. Chandler had 20 points and McGee had 14, while the two reserves combined for plus-33.

Wilson Chandler goes horizontal in the Nuggets’ victory over the Thunder in Denver. (Getty Images)

How about “Ill Wil?” Nuggets guard Wilson Chandler has now made four appearances since returning from his hip surgery recovery, and the 6-8 forward has made an impact in his 19 minutes per game in this stretch.

He hit a huge 3 in overtime in the win against Portland. And he hit two clutch free throws, hardly a Denver forte’, in last Sunday’s win against the Thunder (Denver plays at Houston on Wednesday).

He sat at his locker about 30 minutes after the Nuggets fifth-straight win – a victory over Golden State — and talked to the media. There were no ice buckets to be seen. Chandler, for the first time in two years, could discuss his play without asterisks. It was a pain-free night.

He’ll be out at least the next five games, it appears. The swingman forward of the Nuggets did not accompany the team to Atlanta Tuesday, and George Karl all but ruled him out for the whole trip.

Right now, there seems to be an undercurrent of real worry about Chandler’s problematic hip condition. A labral tear to the left side ended Chandler’s season last April. He received surgery from renowned Vail hip specialist Marc J. Philippon, and seemed to be all the way back when he returned early this season, playing four games.

Then, Nov. 12 at Phoenix, he re-aggravated the injury and hasn’t played since. Is another surgery a possibility? The Nuggets have not given much information one way or the other about his outlook. But with the calendar coming up on a month since he last played, you have to wonder.

PHOENIX – Hello from the airport, about to take a flight back to Denver. Things I hope:

1. Unlike a previous flight on this road trip, the guy next to me doesn’t take off his shoes.

2. Unlike that same previous flight on this road trip, the guy next to me doesn’t also take off his socks.

Wilson Chandler hadn’t played in the previous two games before returning Monday to play in the loss to the Suns. “Ill Will” is still recovering from hip surgery and isn’t 100 percent. The Nuggets – and Nuggets fans – are still trying to find out Wilson’s best role on this team. He’s a fascinating piece because he’s 6-8, can shoot some and defending the perimeter.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.